calamity are sicke of the fret not looking up to the hand of God but fretting at the men and the meanes by which God doth afflict them like the Ethiopians who detest the Sunne because it scorcheth them with immoderate heate or like curst mastives that breake their teeth in gnawing those iron chaines wherewith their Master ties them and in biting the staffe with which he beates them as if a staffe could smite or a chaine bind without an hand to use it It will be more laudable for us to imitate the Saints Psal 44.9 Iob 1.21 Chrysost in 1. Ep. ad Thess who in every calamity did owne the hand of God The Lord hath given saith Iob the Lord hath taken away c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. What doest thou say the Lord hath taken away the theefe had taken away the Sabeans had taken away his oxen the Chaldeans had taken away his Camells true yet Iob complaines not of them but lookes up to the hand of God So should wee in the like case Doth the plague come looke up to God doth the sword come looke up to God doth dearth come poverty ignominie or any other calamity Act it upon God 2. Sam. 14 19. As David inquired of the woman of Tekoah if the hand of Ioab was not with her in the close plea and artificiall atonement which shee made for Absalom in all our distresses let us inquire if there bee not the hand of God in them and inquiring we shall finde it so which when we have done let us with patience resigne up our selves into his hands saying as the Church Mic. 7.9 I will beare the indignatâ—on of the Lord because I have sinned against him 4. Observ For it is our sinne which kindleth the indignation of God and provokes him to judgement which is our next poynt See what I did unto it for the wickednesse of my people Israel Wickednesse was that cloud in which all the stormes that fell on Shiloh were ingendred It lyes in the power of sinne and wickednesse to make the most fruitfull land barren and the most blessed place accursed A truth that may well passe for current and being coyned in the mint of Gods word Psal 107.34 God turnes a fruitfull land into barrennesse for the wickednesse of the inhabitants that dwell therein Aug. Civitatis eversio morum non murorum casus The ruine of a city is not so soone wrought by the weaknesse of the walls as by the lewdnesse of their lives that are the inhabitants Were the walls of a city stronger then those of Babylon the sinnes within would hurle downe the walls without Hos 13.9 Intra muros hostis thy perdition is of thy selfe ô Israel The Heathen Historian * Abundant voluptates desiderium per luxum atque libidinem pereundi perdendique omnia invexere Liv. Heylin observed that Rome began to loose all when sinne abounded most amongst all Romes vtter overthrowing was nothing else but their vices abounding and sinnes overflowing An English Gentlemen at their expulsion out of France was demanded by a French Cavalier when they would returne againe his answer was feeling and pithie When your sinnes quoth he are greater than ours He knew well that for sins Kingdomes are translated from one people to another and that a land spues out her inhabitants for the iniquity of them that dwell therein * A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 3. â—9 In A Gellius mention is made of the horse of Sejanus called Sejus this horse a goodly horse to looke on but whosoever owned it was stil unfortunate Such a thing is sinne unfortunate to all whatsover person or nation doth harbour it can never prosper S. Cyprian writes thus to Demetrian and others who imputed to Christian religion pestilence sword famine and all the evills which then fell out in the world Yee are discontented to see God displeased yee are angry that God is thus angry as if yee could deserve from him any good by living ill as if all these evills of punishment were not lesse than the evills of your sinnes * Hos 2.14 God of himselfe is gracious mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse not willing to punish except he be provoked but if we provoke him by sinne we are sure to feele the punishment Looke into Paradise looke into hell looke into heaven looke upon earth and every where yee shall meete examples to confirme this 1. Look into Paradise Gen. 3. where God placed our first parents and inriched them with all sorts of blessings so soone as they fell into disobedience and did eate of the forbidden fruit they were cast out and as the sentence was gone out of Gods mouth so the sword of justice 2 Esâ—â— 7. â—â— followes to execute they must die and all their posterity All must die in them since all have sinned in them Secondly looke into hell see the unmercifulnesse of Dives punished according to the rule of justice Desideravit guttam qui non dedit micam Aug. Luk. 16. He begg'd a drop of water and could not have it because he denied a crumme of bread before when Lazarus begg'd it Thirdly 2. Pet. 2.4 Looke into heaven and see sinne punished there God spared not the Angels that sinned not those glorious inhabitants of heaven but cast them downe to hell And art thou better or dearer than the Angels Fourthly looke upon earth and see there innumerable punishments both personall and nationall inflicted for sinne Every story is a Chronicle of this truth and the whole world but the practise Gen. 7.11 For sinne God sluced out flouds from the sea and opened the windowes of heaven taking away the retentive power from the clouds that they might powre downe unmeasurably to drowne the old world for sinne he rained down fire from heaven to consume Sodom and opened the jawes of the earth to swallow Corah Num. 16.31 for sin he sent Ierusalem into captivity Ier. 40.2 Ier. 33.15 Ier. 30.15 and suffered Shiloh to be msde desolate Goe yee now c. See what I did unto it consider how I deprived it of my mercies and made it a spectacle of my justice So true is that Ier. 2.3 Evill shall come upon sinners The evill of sinne is but an earnest laid downe for the evill of punishment If sinne be the herald going before punishment will bee the attendant and follow after When disobedience hath playd her part then vengeance comes upon the stage Should I turne over every leafe of sacred writ and search all Fathers and all writers divine and humane by innumerable testimonies I should evince this truth that sinne hales on punishment It is so sure a concomitant of sinne that oftentimes the word which signifies sinne is translated punishment * Zach. 14.19 as if sinne and punishment were termini convertibiles Raro antecedentem scelestum Descruit pede poena claudo in a manner all one Haply
it is sometimes punished slowly but alwayes surely For a while it may with a boldned face out brave vertue and so flourish as if vice were the onely favourite of heaven but if wee have time for observation we shall see it halting on a crutch and blushing for shame It winds about men like a subtile river seeming onely to runne on his course doth yet search as it runnes gliding so slily by as if it scarcely toucht the bank yet stil eats something in it * Plut. de scâ—â— numinis ultione Isiodor Peleusiot lib. 1. Epist 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods justice is like a mill it may be late ere it doth grinde a man for sinne but when once it begins to doe it it grinds him to powder On whomsoever this stone shall fall it will grind him to powder * Mat. 21.44 Gods patience being abused is turned into fury and then horrendum est c. It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the loving God Heb. 10.31 Aquinas * Aquin. sum p. 3. q. 86. art 4. not amisse gives this reason why men must be punished for sinne The disorder of sinne saith hee cannot be reduced to the order of justice but by punishment for it is just that he who more than hee ought hath followed his will should suffer something against his will This may bee the way to reforme him to Gods will Though the anvile being beaten upon doth waxe harder yet being put into the fire it becomes soft so sinners may be softned by punishment that are hardned by mercies Secondly if God should never punish sinne wicked men would thinke God altogether like themselvs conclude him a pertaker in their sins Psal 50.21 An ill tempered body the more it is fed with good nourishment the worse it is so an ill tempered soule with the untempered mortar of sinne becomes worse for the mercy and lenity of God Thirdly if God should never punish sinne wicked men would set at nought al his ministers and conclude them false Prophets in denouncing judgements that never come upon them Ier. 5.12 S Chrysostome in Epist ad Rom Hom 25. 13 14. Therefore saith Chrysostome doth God punish many in this world that because they will not believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words of commination they may believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the deeds of execution Fourthly when sinne is ripened God is much provoked and it is then an easing of him to punish sinne Ah I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me on mine enemies Isay 1.24 Till he is thus eased he is by our sinnes pressed under us as a cart that is full of sheaves Amos 2.13 Our sinnes disturbe God in the highest heaven they cry unto him for vengeance as the sinnes of Sodom did Gen. 18. And if our sinnes cry shall not he that made the eare heare justice is his nature and it is a righteous thing with him to recompense sinne with punishment 2 Thess 1.6 Vpon those words of the Lord Ier 4.3 4. Sâ—w not among thornes lest my fury come forth like fire and burne that none can quench it because of the wickednesse of your doings Ghist in loc It is observed by some that sinnes are as thornes which doe easily kindle the fire of Gods wrath His wrath * Id. in Ier. 15.14 is otherwise as a fire covered with embers his divine love I meane which is as warme embers doth cover his wrath but our sinnes as a violent wind doe blow away those embers and then his wrath appeares then his fury breakes forth like fire and burnes that none can quench it I want time to handle the last observation therefore joyntly to apply this with the precedent points Yee have heard first that it is God who inflicts judgement Secondly that he doth it not except he be provoked by wickednesse and if he be so provoked hee will doe it Thirdly and that to his owne place and people Behold here how wee may come to lose all our prerogatives Churches Cities prosperity Application safety peace Gospell and what not by running the courses of wickednesse Who can number the blessings we have enjoyed The world can tell that of all the trees in the garden wee are the Vine amongst all flowers wee are the lillie 2 Esdr 5.23 amongst all fowles we are the dove amongst all cities wee have Shiloh and Ierusalem Vpon us God hath with a full hand powred those blessings which he hath but sprinkled upon others temporall I meane as well as spirituall blessings All other countries are in some things defective Sands Trav. l. 4. but England like a provident parent doth minister unto us whatsoever is usefull foraigne additions but onely tending to vanity and luxury The summer burnes us not nor doth the winter benumme us Wee may sit and sing under our owne fig-trees Penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos Vir. and drinke the wine of our owne vineyeards As in situation so in felicity our beloved Isle is wholly disioyned from all the world They that have travelled the Belgicke Provinces can witnesse the miserable footsteps of warre Eccl. â— and the tyrannie of desolation Churches and Cities have no more monuments but the ruined foundations to testifie that they were Whereas peace is within our wals and prosperity within our Palaces Our artificers may sing in their shops husbandmen may cheerfully follow the plough and students peaceably apply their bookes We heare not the murthering pieces about our eares we see not our Churches houses flaming over our heads we feare not rapes and outragious violences to be offered to our wives our daughters our matrones and our virgins We feele not the rifling of our houses the ransacking of our temples the spoyling of our goods nor the miserable insolency of our insulting enemies We see not the wife breathing out her life in the armes of her husband nor the tender babe snatcht from the mothers breasts either bleeding dead on the pavemeÌ„t or sprawling on the merciles pikes We see not the high way strewed with breathlesse carkasses nor our streets swimming with blood We cannot judge of the terrors of warre but by report and heare-say Though God hath tossed our neighbour-nations and made them like a wheele and as the stubble before the winde yet this Iland or Britaine our deare Country hath stood like the Center with unmooved firmenesse Oh how happy might we be if our iniquity did not envie our prosperity nor our wickednesse make way to our wretchednesse Whether it come to passe Ex Daemonis injuria vel Ex hominis incuria from the Divels malice or mans neglect so it is that for so many talents of Gods blessings we give him not a dramme of service Nay we give him the worst of all things who hath given us the best of all things For his blessings heapen and shaken and thrust together we give him iniquities pressed downe and yet
vnderstandings may be enlightned our hearts purified our conscience spacified our sinfull liues reformed and our soules saved yea the whole man at length glorified in the land of the living And that in and through thy deare soone our onely Saviour Iesus Christ in whose name and words we pray Our Father c. IEREMIE 7.12 But go yee now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did unto it for the wickednesse of my people Jsrael SVCH is the lenity and long animitie of Almighty God that before he proceedes to the punishment of sinners hee gives them many warnings before he sends the storme shall not now profit you that are wicked but you and your temple shall be destroyed The temple is not more excellent than another place but for the Arke and the Alter indeed it is somewhat more adorned but all the excellency and sanctity lie in them And were not these as well in Shiloh yet notwithstanding it was ruinated So that it is but a folly in you to wax proud of these things as if their sanctity without your sanctity could save you from the wrath to come Therefore for the abating of your pride and the rectifying of of your confidence Go ye to my place c. Which text though at first sight seemes not shoot Yea he doth often shew us his bow but takes neither string nor shaft into his hand Thou hast shewed the people hard things Psal 60.3 Shewed not imposed he shewes his bow before hee shootes and his rod before he layes it on So true is that speech of the Church Lam. 3.33 The Lord doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Search the rolles of holy writ and there yee shall observe him sometimes grieving for sinne sometimes complaining of it somtimes threatning of it sometime proposing to us the execution of his iudgements upon others for such and such sinnes as here to Ierusalem that shee might see her miserable condition fall to speedy deprecation to her and her inhabitants he propoundeth Shiloh as a spectacle of his justice and that for those sinnes of which Ierusalem was as deepely guilty as ever Shiloh was Ite ad locum meum in Silo c. The chuse but set a sudden stop and period to their prosperity yet did they trust for safety in the outward badges of their religion and especially in their Temple saying The Temple of the Lord c. The temple of the Lord is holy glorious reverenced of all how is it possible that any should destroy the temple of the Lord or vanquish the citty in which that temple is Oh saith Ieremie trust yee not in such lying words for the holines of the place doth little availe a people if they themselves be not holy in their lives For proofe of which goe but unto Shiloh the holinesse of the place in Shiloh where at first the holy Tabernacle staid for a long time the Ark before which the name of God was invocated and the worship of sacrifices administred did nothing profit the people of Israel when they gave themselves to wickednesse but together with them that place was reiected of the Lord so the temple of Salomon shall not now profit you that are wicked but you and your temple shall be destroyed The temple is not more excellent than another place but for the Arke and the Alter indeed it is somewhat more adorned but all the excellency and sanctity lie in them And were not these as well in Shiloh yet notwithstanding it was ruinated So that it is but a folly in you to wax proud of these things as if their sanctity without your sanctity could save you from the wrath to come Therefore for the abating of your pride and the rectifying of of your confidence Go ye to my place c. Which text though at first sight seemes not to meddle with matters present now of neere home but past and farre off matters of another Meridian aloofe from us as farre as Shiloh or Ierusalem concerning not Christians but Iewes mentioning not our wickednesse but theirs the wickednesse of the People Israel Yet as the Sunne though it rise in the East sets in the West by that time the Text hath gone its circuit it may come to set farre from where it rose as Nathan though he began with a parrable of two men and a sheep yet brought it about in the end to Thou art the man In our Text there is a journey prescribed yea a double journey the one corporall Go that respects the body the other spirituall see that respects the minde Or if you like it better here is a direction to a double action Go and see 1. Ite go yee and that is amplified by two circumstances the time and the place besides which yee may adde the consideration of the persons Yee Go yee And 1. the persons are the inhabitants of Ierusalem 2. the time is now go presently for delay breeds danger And 3. for the place it hath a double description 1. Nominall it is Shiloh 2. Reall it is the place where God did set his name at the first 1 What that place was possessively In which latter are diverse particulars to bee observed 1. proprietary or owner of it God my place saith the Lord which shewes the glory of it for that must needs be glorious which is the place of God 1 King 8.11 the King of glory But the whole world is Gods as well as Shiloh was true but this is his in speciall respects set down in the next passage expressing the reason why Shiloh was so glorious it was a priveledged place for 1. God did set his name there and not onely so but 2. 2 What that place was positively he set it there at the first Ther 's the glory of the place the sanctity and previledge of the place and the antiquity of each Go yee now c. ther 's the first act The second followeth Videte See not onely Go Ioh. 1.46 but Go and see as Philip to Nathaniell Come and see When yee are come to Shiloh bee not idle there but open your eyes and see imploy your mindes and consider What I did unto it for the wickednesse c. 1. Observe what was done unto it the calamity that befell it 2. Who was the Authour of that calamity I saith the Lord 3. What was the impulsive cause that provoked the Lord to inflict that calamity Wickednesse 4. Whose wickednesse it was that could so farre provoke him as to reiect his owne place Shiloh the wickednesse of his owne people Israel Where wickednesse raigneth God will not spare that place though it be Shiloh nor that people though it be Israel Go yee now c. I will handle the text two wayes First Exegetically or Paraphrastically by way of explicatiō then Diadactically or Doctrinally by way of instruction And I begin with the first act
Lord in Shiloh In this respect Shiloh was the place of God my place saith the Lord the place where I did set my name that is * Calvin in loc Vbi volui arcam residere where I made my Ark to dwell for * 2 Sam. 6.2 the Arke is called by the name of God and the Hebrew word imports a fixed residence my place the place where I appointed my worship and the use of my ordinances by which I am made knowne unto you as a man is made knowne by his name And which is yet more I did not onely set my name there but did set it there at the first In principio before your Temple was built nay before it was known that mount Sion should be the place where I would have a Temple built then was Shiloh my place consecrated to my service All this considered First the propinquity of the place it is Shiloh and that 's but six miles distant from your Citty Secondly the glory of the place together with the sanctity of it that it is my place that which I made choice of above all other places in the world there to set my name to settle my Ark Tabernacle divine worship Thirdly the antiquity of the place and priviledges of it that I did set my name there at the first long before the Temple of Ierusalem was thought on I say all this considered it will bee worth your labour to follow my councell in this Goe yee now c. But to goe thither is not all that were soone done to an Ite you must adde a Videte Go and see as the King of Israel said to his servants 2 Kings 7.14 Your feete your ankles your locomotive faculty were given you to goe the spheares of your eyes these lights this sharpnes of sight were given you to see you are neither lame nor blinde therefore Ite videte Goe and see The Philosopher * Arist lib. de sensu et sensato c. 2. concludes against the Platonists that the fight drawes most after the Element of water for * Arist de Gener Corrupt l. 2. c. 2. as water is hardly kept within his owne or without the limits of his neighbour Elements so the sight denied by nature to see it selfe is never satisfied * Prov. 27.20 with gazing upon other creatures The eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccles 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a volubitatè Scapula And there is not more volubillity * Prov. 27.20 in the eye then curiosity in the minde of man to behold strange and uncouth sights If such obiects be neere no lockes can hold us we must out to see Then what needs such a precept as this in our Text Ite videte Goe and see Yes for it is not barely to see to cast their eyes where they list themselves but to fixe them upon that obiect to which God directs them See saith he what I did unto Shiloh for c. Marke the calamity which befell that place which is in situation so neere you in antiquity beyond you in glory and sanctity sometimes equall to that Temple wherein yee trust The calamity of it is recorded 1 Sam. 4. Where yee shall reade that the Israelites being smitten by the Philistims and in great distresse they sent for the Arke out of Shiloh trusting that the Arke being a pledge of Gods presence and assistance might then save them out of the hands of their enemies as if their sinnes were not of force to sever the power of God from the Arke and to make a divorce between the truth and the figure Well the Arke is brought and in it the Law written in tables but it had beene better if they had had the Law written in their hearts when the Arke came into the campe all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang againe Her 's great joy but to little purpose they triumph before the victory and without the victory for they triumph without God Calvin Hom. 17. in lib 1. Sam. nay against God do they erect their trophees of triumph not being reconciled unto him by faith and repentance The vanity of their triumph may appeare by the issue of the battell for at the presence of the Arke they received a greater overthrow then before The slaughter was very great for there fell of Israel 3 0000. footemen Their young men were consumed and their Priests slaine yea the Arke it selfe the pledge of Gods favour and succour the strength and glory of Israel was taken by the enemies And as S. Ierome * apud Sanctiū in Ier. 7 1◠Sic etiam Pellican ibid. observes the place where Shiloh was is utterly ruinated and made desolate Howsoever Shiloh forfeited her Charter and lost her former priviledges * Christophor a Castro ibid. 1 Sam. 7.1 the residence of the Arke For after the Philistimes had brought it to Bethshemesh it was fetcht to Kiriath-jearim and so carried from place to place but never more to Shiloh where it had continued from the dayes of Ioshuah to the death of Eli 369. yeares Ghisler in Ier. 7 12. according to the Chronologie of the Hebrewes or 351. according to the Computation of other Authors This was the calamity which befell Shiloh it ceased for ever to be the place of Gods worship which came not to passe by chance but by the Divine providence See saith the Lord what I did unto it The Philistims were but my instruments in this worke I the chiefe Agent Non vires ferri Anson Epigr. 5. sed ferientis agunt I did it And yet I did it not out of any hatred but in my iustice not because I desired their woe but because I was provoked by their sinne even the Wickednesse of my people Israel My people for so were they in Shiloh as well as you in Ierusalem My people not onely as all by right of possession but as you by the right of confederation and the grace of acceptation But such is the righteousnes of my nature such the purity of mine eyes that I cannot with approbation behold sinne no Amos 3.2 not in mine owne people If they whome I have so much honored as to be my people will so dishoner me as to commit wickednes against me I cannot but glorifie my selfe by doing iustice upon thē Thē consider this ye that now professe your selves to be my people and glory so much in the beautie of your temple Goe yee now c. Hitherto be it spoken of the words exegetically I now come to handle them Doctrinally And now taske your wits and your memories and keepe pace with me for within the compasse of the time I shall runne over these five observations all of them naturally deduced not tyranously inforced from the words 1. Where God doth set his name that 's the peculier place of God 2. The holinesse of the place cannot protect a people except there
had only the green blade of corne we have the plentifull increase as in the time of harvest they had the shadow wee the substance they had a glympse of the Sunne wee have him in the full strength they had the Paschall lambe to expiate sinnes typically wee have the lambe of God to take them away really Ioh. 1.29 Gal. 4. They were Alphabetarij and Abecedarij young beginners learning their A B C under the tutorship of the law but to us the Gospel is giveÌ„ wherin our saving health is spread before our beleeving eyes without any shadow cast over the beauty of it We behold as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face 2 Cor. 3.18 we feed upon the true Manna and drinke of the water of life freely Oh let us thankefully imbrace our transcendent happinesse Plato was thankefull to nature as wee reade in Lactant. 1. For that he was borne a man Lactant. l. 3 divin Iust c. 19 not a beast 2. A man not a woman 3. A Greecian not a Barbarian 4. An Athenian not a Theban and finally that he was borne in the time of Socrates But much more thankefull should wee be to the God of nature for that we are borne not Pagans but Christians and in such a place as England where heaven stands open which to other parts is barred on the outside with ignorance or misbeliefe England is the place of Gods worship therefore the peculiar place of God so that we may say as it is in the Psalme Psal 46.7 The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Iacob is our refuge wee have his speciall presence his speciall protection his speciall blessing and that so long as ever wee continue to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse not one minute longer 2. Observat For the holinesse of the place cannot protect a people except there be holinesse in the persons who inhabit that place which is the second point that falls next into our consideration Shiloh was a holy place glorious for sanctity and for the antiquity of that sanctity yet because the inhabitants of it were not holy both they and it were exposed to the fury of the enemy Ioan. Pappâ—… in Ier. 7.12 Though God in the old Testament would be worshipped oâ—â—ly in that place where himselfe had set the memory of his name yet did hee not so tye the memory of his name to any certaine place but that fot the impiety of the people he changed the place of his Tabernacle and Temple In the new Test because the Gospell was to be published through the whole world that distinction of places is taken away the time is now come when neither in the mountaine of Samaria nor yet at Ierusalem Iohn 4. men shall worship God by any such tye Now every place is so long no longer the Temple and habitation of God as there shall be found in it true faith and holynesse of life But where these cease where superstition and heresie doe corrupt faith and wickednesse succeeds in the roome of holinesse Matt. 21.43 there the like judgement is to be feared which befel Shiloh that God will remove his kingdome of grace from such a place or people and give it to a Nation that will bring forth the fruites of it Ierusalem might goe to Shiloh and England may goe to Ierusalem to learne this lesson that the holinesse of a place cannot protect a people except c. Consider Ierusalem the City of the great King the throne of God the place of holy worship and perfit joy tell her turrets and marke well her bulwarkes carry in your mindes the Idaea of her gloryes Ioseph de bello Iudaico l. 7. ca. 7 8 9 14 17. how shee was great among the provinces princesse among the nations the joy of the whole earth and then on a sodaine behold her Temple and houses burning the smoake of the fire waving in the ayre and hiding the light of the sunne the flame rising up to heaven as if they would ascend as high as their sinnes had erst done her old and young rich and poore high and low matrons virgins mothers infants Princes and Priests Prophets and Nazarites famished fettered scattered consumed Heer 's a maister peece of Gods justice for sinne Ierusalem once so glorious is now become a heap of stones that holy citie yea that whole country is now become a ploughed field layd wast under the feete of Pagans And the place of divine Oratory become a den of Dragons Ghiesler in Ier. 7.12 Go from Ierusalem to the Churches of Corinth Galatia Philippi Ephesus Smyrna Nice Laodicea Antiochia to all the Easterne and * African Churches sometime glorious Sanctuaries of the most high consecrated to his service when the inhabitants thereof became polluted they were rejected of the Lord who discarded their Idols and gave their land to be inhabited by Zijm and Ochim Turkes and Infidels The more gloriously the sun and summer have apparrelled a tree the more we admire the blasting but when God hath planted a people in his owne holy ground as he did Adam in Paradise Israel in Shiloh and Ierusalem watered it with the dewes of grace shined on it with the beames of mercy spent much care and cost upon it if this people brings forth no fruit or bad fruit no marvaile if there goes out a curse Never fruit grow on thee more no marvaile if God bestow no more care nor cost upon it but suffers it to be laid wast as he sometimes threatned to do to his Vineyard Isay 5.5 I will take away the hedge thereof I will breake downe the wall thereof I will lay it waste I saith the Lord. For such alterations and subversions are not to be ascribed to fortune destinie starrs planets or the like but to God himselfe which is our next point 3. Observat It is God who inflicts judgement upon a place or people See saith he what I did Goe yee now c. It was he that forsooke the Tabernacle at Shiloh he that delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hands hee gave his people over unto the sword and was wroth with his inheritance c. Psal 78.60.61 It was hee that gave the sword a charge against Ashkelon Ier 47 9 Ieâ—â—6 â—5 Ier. â—0 25 Ier. 19.3 that swept away the valiant men of Egypt that opened his Armorie and brought forth weapons of indignation to smite Babilon it is he that thus threatens Ierusalem Ièr. 18.11 I frame evill against you and devise a devise against you I will bring evill upon this place the which whosoever heareth his eares shall tingle Whatsoever calamities befall us publique or private they are from God Hee is the Authour of all our Tragedies and hath written out for us and appoynted to us the severall parts which we are to act in them The more to blame then are those impatient Spirits that in the case of
running over As Archimedes tombe was over-growne with thornes Cic. Tusculan quaest lib. 5. when Cicero came to visit it so is our land with heapes of vices From the Cedar to the shrubbe from the Eagle to the wren from the highest to the lowest from the yongest to the oldest we have all corrupted our wayes Sin was woont to love privacy as if she walked in feare like one in danger of an Arrest but now she dares shew her face without blushing Though the heavens blush at the view and the earth sweat at the burden of so vile sinners and the Prophets proclaime open shame and confusion against them yet they neither shrinke at the shame nor feele the horror nor feare the revenge Now may we see the truth of that Praemonition 2. Tim. 3.1 In the last dayes perillous times shall come The times are now so perillous that it is scarce safe to be an honest man Vertue like Ioseph for his goodnesse is brought to the stockes and yrons Looke upon this Angle of the world for so we thinke ANGLIA signifies how doth it swarme with all abominations with oppression extortion prophanenes uncleannes unmercifulnesse envie malice pride fraude briberie luxurie and the rest for to name all particulars is impossible We neede rather teares to bewaile them than a tongue to report them And if the whole land be so full of sin shall we thinke this City free Nay this is the Pontificall seat of sinne where she is never non-resident As many lines meet at the Center so all sins by a generall confluence to this place * Holinshed Chron. Ann. 1. of Q. Mary Grimstone State of the Empire p. 566 The word of Stephen Gardiner L. Chancelor to Sr. Thomas White L. Major in the star Chamber My L. take heed to your charge the Citie of London is a whirlpoole and a sinke of evill rumors there they be bred and from thence spread into all parts of this Realme There is a commō Proverbe in Germany that the Country of Suabe alone is able to furnish all Germany with strumpets Franconia with rogues and beggers Bohemia with heretickes Bavaria with theeves Westphalia with perjurers and false witnesses and the Marquisat of the Rhine with gluttons I would to God that London alone could not furnish all England with all these with strumpets rogues beggers heretickes theeves false witnesses gluttons and with any others that are audacious in sinne Our wickednesse is such and so much that it is all if the idolatry of Rome or the blasphemy of Turkey can go beyond it Rev. 3.1 I know there are a few names in Sardis that have not defiled their garments some amongst us that make conscience of their waies but what are these in comparison of the rest How many ignorant are there to one that hath sound knowledge how many swearers to one that feares an oath how many oppressors adulterers and hypocrites to one truly religious As Ierusalem justified Sodom so we may well justifie Ierusalem abounding in all damnable abominations What then can we expect but that God should stint the influence of his favour toward us withdraw from us all his blessings powre upon us the full vials of his wrath and make us a spectacle of his justice as he did Shiloh and Ierusalem Wee are now by reason our sinnes circled round with imminent dangers destruction with saile-stretcht wings hovers o're our heads and a cloud of mischiefe is ready to breake upon us Not to mention other particulars materiall in this kind the glory of our nation hath of late bin eclypsed the lively lustre whereof was ere while so resplendent that it dazled the eyes of all such as were neere or about us God hath not gone out with our armies but hath suffred our enemies to prevaile our young men and our strong men of the highest ranke have fallen by the sword So that as fluttering birds fly wondering about the Owle our friends have wondred our foes rejoiced at our ill successe hissing and clapping their hands to see our glory swallowed up Whence this but from our sinnes * Indeed wee doe commonly impute it unto other causes but wee forget our sinnes which are the principall Besides the massacring Angell that harbinger of death doth againe visite our land God for our sinnes doth now send the pestilence home to our dores this his pursevant rides circuit in our City Country and Vniversity and catcheth men as with a snare perhaps when they most hast from him and will not be rid away so long as our sinnes invite him to tarty Our sins are the cart-ropes that hale downe the plague and all other judgements upon us they are the enemies that ring our knelles and proclaime our funerals they are the thicke clouds which hinder the Sun-shine of our prosperity they are the false strumpets that make a divorce between Gods mercy and our safety they are the traitors that forfeit into Gods hands all those priviledges which we have hitherto injoied And shal we still twist these cart-ropes and strengthen the hands of these enemies shall wee still increase these clouds and foster these strumpets and traitors Nay rather let us bethink our selves of some remedy against that misery which is like to fall upon us ENGLAND hath now for her sinnes as it were many swords drawne out against her and shal she provide no buckler Her owne brood is ready to bite out her belly to put out her candle to shake her foundations and shall we not looke about us Where are you yee deputies of Moses yee sonnes of the Highest into whose hands God hath put a sword of authority for no other purpose but to strike at sinne Will yee suffer it to rust in the sheath or hold it in your hand and never strike Will yee like Iehojakim sit beaking your selves before the fire of ease and rest and wholly neglect the discharge of that high place to which God hath called you Or will yee for a bribe sell your connivence and withall your conscience where yee should give your punishment Hos 5.7 6. ◠12. Will yee turne righteousnes into wormwood judgement into gall and the fruit of rightousnesse into hemlocke Mistake me not I aime at no particular person and I trust you will not condemne the poore swallowes for chattering and using their voice agreably to nature Bessus * Plut. de sera numinis ultione surmised they cried against him that he had kil'd his Father If the speech meet with any of you in particular it is not in my intent but in the event Nor do I lay the fault upon Magistrats in generall that all sorts of sinnes are so rise amongst us Yet to speake truth when I consider how powerfully the Ministers of this land especially they of this City do labour to beate downe sinne I begin to thinke there is some want of courage or diligence in the Magistrate that he himselfe is persuaded that